The Federal Communications Commission is proposing to launch a new three-digit hotline for people who are feeling suicidal or are going through any other mental health crisis. It recommends making 988 the new national number to call for help, replacing the current 10-digit number.

The agency presented the idea to Congress in a report earlier this month and is expected to release more information and seek public comment about the proposal in the coming months.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma reached a tentative deal Wednesday with about half the states and thousands of local governments over its role in the nation's deadly opioid epidemic, but criticism by several state attorneys general clouded prospects for an end to litigation against the company and the family that owns it.

Two 13-year-olds and a 16-year-old sued the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice on Thursday, alleging their health and well-being were put in danger when the state placed them in solitary confinement.

Low-income patients in Hillsborough County are losing an option for receiving free family-planning care at the end of this month. As of Sept. 30, Tampa Family Health Centers will no longer offer Title X services.

It's still a mystery — what's causing the cluster of severe respiratory illnesses among people who've used e-cigarettes? The FDA says there have been at least 215 reported cases in 25 states.

Nearly three dozen of those cases are in New York state, and investigators there say they are now zeroing in on vitamin E as a possible culprit. Health officials say state lab tests detected high levels of vitamin E in cartridges of cannabis vaping products used by people who vaped and suffered serious lung damage.

A 14-year-old boy goes to the doctor with complaints of tiredness. He's an extremely picky eater. (Think a daily diet of French fries, plus snacking on Pringles potato chips, white bread and some processed pork.) But overall, he appears OK. He's not overweight and takes no medications.

Tests show he has anemia and low levels of vitamin B12, so he's given B12 injections and diet advice. But a year later, he has begun to lose his vision. Then, by age 17, he's legally blind.

The first human clinical trial is underway at Moffitt Cancer Center with what researchers are calling a "cancer vaccine."

Health News Florida's Daylina Miller spoke with Patricia Lawman, the co-founder of Tampa-based Morphogenesis. The immunotherapy company developed the vaccine, which is injected into cancer patients to help their immune systems identify and destroy tumors.

The Phase I clinical trial for the vaccine, called ImmuneFX, is being tested on patients with severe cutaneous melanoma.

It was the arrival of the second man in his early 20s gasping for air that alarmed Dr. Dixie Harris. Young patients rarely get so sick, so fast, with a severe lung illness, and this was her second case in a matter of days.

Illinois health officials said Friday that a patient who contracted a serious lung disease after vaping has died, which could make it the first death in the United States linked to the smoking alternative that has become popular with teens and young adults.

Florida is now one of 16 states where federal and state officials are investigating lung-related illnesses that have suspected ties to e-cigarette use, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Broward County has the fastest-growing population of people over 85 in the country. One of the growing problems they face is social isolation, which can lead to depression, loneliness and safety issues for those living alone.

Why does e-cigarette maker Juul advertise its product on TV when cigarette ads are banned? The short answer: Because it can.

For nearly 50 years, cigarette advertising has been banned from TV and radio. But electronic cigarettes — those battery-operated devices that often resemble oversized USB flash drives with flavored nicotine "pods" that clip in on the end — aren't addressed in the law.